Welding apparatus

Abstract

Welding apparatus for welding railroad rails is movable plus or minus approximately two feet to compensate for the position of the continuous rail, i.e., the already welded together rail sections, as the latter is removed from the welding apparatus. The welding apparatus also is provided with a vertical clamping and aligning system and a horizontal clamping and aligning system, each of which contain pairs of hydraulic cylinders, one of which is larger than the other, with the larger cylinder in each case being operable to a set position with respect to the rail line of the apparatus, to position the rail. The smaller cylinder then operates to effectively clamp the rail against an arm operated by the larger cylinder. The cylinders are connected in a parallelogram-type arrangement, with the entire arrangement being adjustable by means of still another hydraulic cylinder, for a final alignment adjustment. Lever arms which support the electrodes to vertically clamp the rail are very rigid in the vertical plane in clamping the rail, but are flexible to some degree in a horizontal plane. This flexibility permits the level arms to be laterally adjustable during the horizontal clamping and aligning process, so that the horizontal and vertical aligning systems are not effectively opposing one another. The apparatus for shearing off the upset metal surrounding the welded joint can be operated without removing most of the clamps which support the rail.

Now that the invention has been described, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: 
     
       1. Welding apparatus for welding rail sections together in end to end relationship to form a continuous rail comprising, in combination: a pair of vertical clamping assemblies for vertically clamping and aligning the respective ones of a pair of rail sections to be welded together to form a continuous rail, said vertical clamping assemblies including electrodes engageable with adjacent ends of a pair of rail sections to be welded together; means for causing current flow between said electrodes and through the ends of said rail sections in order to make a weld; a pair of horizontal clamping assemblies for horizontally clamping and aligning the respective ones of said pair of rail sections; said vertical clamping assemblies each comprising a pair of upper and a pair of lower lever arms, the lever arms of each pair being spaced on opposite sides of a rail section and being pivotally affixed for rotation in a vertical plane at one end thereof and having one of said electrodes connected between the opposite ends thereof so as to engage the upper and lower surfaces of said rail section when the respective pairs of said lever arms are pivotally rotated, said upper and lower pairs of lever arms being rigid in the vertical plane thereof and being flexible within limits in a horizontal plane, whereby no undue stress is placed on said lever arms during horizontal alignment of said rail sections, and means for pivotally rotating the respective pairs of lever arms to engage said electrodes with said rail section to vertically clamp said rail section between them. 
     
     
       2. The welding apparatus of claim 1, wherein one of said pairs of lever arms is pivotally rotated to a set position with respect to a rail line of said welding apparatus, and the other one of said pairs of lever arms is pivotally rotated to engage the electrode connected therewith with said rail section to urge and to clamp said rail section against the electrode connected with said one pair of lever arms. 
     
     
       3. The welding apparatus of claim 2, wherein the upper pair of lever arms is pivotally rotated to said set position, and the lower pair of lever arms is pivotally rotated to engage the electrode connected therewith with said rail section to raise said rail section into clamping engagement between said electrodes. 
     
     
       4. The welding apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said vertical clamping assemblies further includes a third lever arm which is pivotally affixed for rotation at one end thereof and which is associated with said upper pair of lever arms, a fourth lever arm which is pivotally affixed for rotation at one end thereof and which is associated with said lower pair of lever arms, means for pivotally rotating said upper pair of lever arms coupled between them and said third lever arm, means for pivotally rotating said lower pair of lever arms coupled between them and said fourth lever arm, the free ends of said third and fourth lever arms being coupled together with a link arm, whereby said upper and lower pair of lever arms, said third and fourth lever arms and said means for pivotally operating said upper and lower pairs of lever arms are all connected in a parallelogram-type arrangement, and means for pivotally operating one of said third and fourth lever arms whereby said upper and lower pairs of lever arms can be simultaneously adjustably positioned. 
     
     
       5. The welding apparatus of claim 1, wherein said horizontal clamping assemblies each comprise an upper and a lower pair of lever arms, the lever arms of each pair being pivotally secured for rotation about a common pivot point to clamp a rail section between one end of each lever arm, said upper and lower pairs of lever arms being located to clamp the head and the base of a rail section, respectively, and means for pivotally rotating the respective pairs of lever arms to clamp a rail section between the ends thereof. 
     
     
       6. The welding apparatus of claim 5, wherein each lever arm of each of said pairs of lever arms is independently pivotally rotatable. 
     
     
       7. The welding apparatus of claim 6, wherein one of said lever arms of each pair of lever arms is pivotally operated to a set position with respect to the centerline of said welding apparatus, and the other one of said lever arms of each pair is pivotally operated to engage and to urge a rail section into clamping engagement with said one lever arm. 
     
     
       8. The welding apparatus of claim 5, wherein each of said horizontal clamping assemblies further includes a third lever arm associated with each of said pairs of lever arms which is pivotally affixed for rotation about a pivot point, means for independently pivotally rotating each of said lever arms of each pair of lever arms, each of said means being coupled between its associated lever arm and to said third lever arm associated with a pair of lever arms on the opposite sides of said pivot point to thereby provide a parallelogram-type arrangement whereby upon pivotally rotating said third lever arm both of said lever arms of a pair of lever arms are pivotally rotated to position said pair of lever arms, and means for pivotally rotating said third lever arms. 
     
     
       9. The welding apparatus of claim 8, wherein each of said third lever arms is independently pivotally rotatable, whereby the upper and lower pairs of lever arms are independently adjustable to provide a twist correction to a rail section. 
     
     
       10. The welding apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a carriage frame for supporting the vertical and horizontal clamping assemblies for one of said rail sections, and a main frame for supporting the vertical and horizontal clamping assemblies for the other one of said rail sections and for supporting therein said carriage frame for reciprocal longitudinal movement thereof with respect to said main frame. 
     
     
       11. The weldig apparatus of claim 10, further including rail means, wheel supported for rotation secured to said main frame and engaged upon said rail means, whereby said main frame can be longitudinally moved on said rail means relative to a rail section extending from said welding apparatus, to thereby permit said rail section to be positioned within said welding apparatus. 
     
     
       12. The welding apparatus of claim 5, further including a pair of web clamp assemblies for web clamping the respective ones of the rail sections to be welded together, each of said web clamp assemblies comprising a pair of lever arms having a clamping pad on the end thereof, each of said lever arms being pivotally affixed for rotation on each of the opposite sides of a rail section and located to clamp the web of a rail section therebetween when pivotally rotated, and means for pivotally rotating said pair of lever arms to clamp the web of a rail section therebetween. 
     
     
       13. The welding apparatus of claim 12, wherein said means for pivotally rotating said pair of lever arms is coupled between one end of said lever arms. 
     
     
       14. The welding apparatus of claim 13, wherein each of said web clamping assemblies further includes a link means coupling said pair of lever arms and operable to adjustably position said lever arms to align a rail section clamped between the ends thereof with the centerline of said welding apparatus. 
     
     
       15. The welding apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a pair of guide roller assemblies, each of said guide roller assemblies including a first guide roller adjustably set to a fixed position with respect to the rail line of said welding apparatus and a second guide roller which is adapted to be raised to engage the base of a rail section and to urge the head of the rail section into engagement with said first guide roller, to thereby align said rail section with the rail line of said welding apparatus. 
     
     
       16. The welding apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a shearing apparatus for shearing the upset metal resulting at a welded joint including a housing having wheels thereon which are engaged with track rails secured within said welding apparatus such as to permit said shearing apparatus to be longitudinally moved with respect to a rail section, a first pair and a second pair of lever arms pivotally affixed for rotation at one end thereof to said housing and having shearing knives carried on the other end thereof which are moved into shearing relationship with a rail section when said lever arms are pivotally rotated, means for pivotally rotating said lever arms, and means for longitudinally moving said shearing apparatus. 
     
     
       17. The welding apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first pair and second pair of lever arms each carry slide means on the ends thereof which are forcibly urged into engagement with the surfaces of a rail section to space said shearing knives from the surfaces, said slide means following the surface contour of the rail section as said shearing apparatus is longitudinally moved, to thereby compensate for slight variations in the surface contours of one rail section to the next. 
     
     
       18. The welding apparatus of claim 16, wherein the length of the lever arms carrying said shearing knives are different in length from one another so that said shearing knives are in a staggered relationship, whereby shearing of the upset metal in different positions is accomplished successively and less shearing force therefore is required. 
     
     
       19. The welding apparatus of claim 16, wherein said lever arms of said shearing apparatus extend between the lever arms of said horizontal clamping assembly, said shearing knives being positioned between the weld joint and the lever arms of said horizontal clamping assembly, whereby the shearing apparatus can be longitudinally advanced to shear said upset metal, with only the lever arms and the electrode connected therebetween of the vertical clamping assemblies being released and moved out of the way during shearing. 
     
     
       20. The welding apparatus of claim 5, further comprising sensor means positionably adjacent the ends of the rail sections to be welded together for sensing the positions of said rail sections and for controlling the operation of said means for pivotally rotating the lever arms of said vertical and horizontal clamping assemblies to align the ends of the rail sections. 
     
     
       21. The welding apparatus of claim 20, wherein said sensor means detect the position of the top and side surface of the head and the side surface of the base of said rail sections. 
     
     
       22. Welding apparatus for welding rail sections together in end to end relationship to form a continuous rail comprising, in combination: a pair of vertical clamping assemblies for vertically clamping and aligning the respective ones of a pair of rail sections to be welded together to form a continuous rail, said vertical clamping assemblies including electrodes engageable with adjacent ends of a pair of rail sections to be welded together; means for causing current flow between said electrodes and through the ends of said rail sections in order to make a weld; a pair of horizontal clamping assemblies for horizontally clamping and aligning the respective ones of said pair of rail sections; said horizontal clamping assemblies each comprising an upper and a lower pair of lever arms, the lever arms of each pair being pivotally secured for rotation about a common pivot point to clamp a rail section between one end of each lever arm, said upper and lower pairs of lever arms being located to clamp the head and the base of a rail section, respectively, and means for pivotally rotating the respective pairs of lever arms to clamp a rail section between the ends thereof. 
     
     
       23. The welding apparatus of claim 22, wherein each lever arm of each of said pairs of lever arms is independently pivotally rotatable. 
     
     
       24. The welding apparatus of claim 23, wherein one of said lever arms of each pair of lever arms is pivotally operated to a set position with respect to the centerline of said welding apparatus; and the other one of said lever arms of each pair is pivotally operated to engage and to urge a rail section into clamping engagement with said one lever arm. 
     
     
       25. The welding apparatus of claim 24, wherein each of said horizontal clamping assemblies further includes a third lever arm associated with each of said pairs of lever arms which is pivotally affixed for rotation about a pivot point, means for independently pivotally rotating each of said lever arms of each pair of lever arms, each of said means being coupled between its associated lever arm and to said third lever arm associated with a pair of lever arms on the opposite sides of said pivot point to thereby provide a parallelogram-type arrangement whereby upon pivotally rotating said third lever arm both of said lever arms of a pair of lever arms are pivotally rotated to position said pair of lever arms, and means for pivotally rotating said third lever arms. 
     
     
       26. The welding apparatus of claim 25, wherein each of said third lever arms is independently pivotally rotatable, whereby the upper and lower pairs of lever arms are independently adjustable to provide a twist correction to a rail section. 
     
     
       27. Welding apparatus for welding rail sections together in end to end relationship to form a continuous rail comprising, in combination: a pair of vertical clamping assemblies for vertically clamping and aligning the respective ones of a pair of rail sections to be welded together to form a continuous rail, said pair of vertical clamping assemblies including electrodes engageable with the ends of the rail sections to be welded together; means for causing current flow between said electrodes and through the ends of said rail sections in order to make the weld; a pair of horizontal clamping assemblies for horizontally clamping and aligning the respective ones of said pair of rail sections; a pair of web clamp assemblies for clamping the web of the respective ones of said pair of said sections; shearing apparatus including a plurality of lever arms having shearing knives on the ends thereof and pivotally operable to engage said shearing knives with said rail sections to shear the upset metal resulting when the joint between the ends of said pair of rail sections are welded together, predetermined ones of said lever arms being of a different length than the other ones thereof so that all of said shearing knives do not function to shear the upset metal at the same time, whereby the required shearing force is reduced, and means for longitudinally advancing said shearing apparatus along the length of said rail sections to shear said upset metal, the arrangement of said horizontal clamping assembly and said plurality of lever arms of said shearing apparatus being such that said shearing apparatus can be longitudinally advanced to shear the upset metal without releasing said horizontal clamping assemblies. 
     
     
       28. The welding apparatus of claim 27, wherein said lever arms of said shearing apparatus extend between the lever arms of said horizontal clamping assembly, said shearing knives being positioned between the weld joint and the lever arms of said horizontal clamping assembly, whereby the shearing apparatus can be longitudinally advanced to shear said upset metal, with only the lever arms and the electrode connected therebetween of the vertical clamping assemblies being released and moved out of the way during shearing. 
     
     
       29. The welding apparatus of claim 27, further comprising a carriage frame for supporting the vertical and horizontal clamping assemblies for one of said pair of rail sections to be welded together and said shearing apparatus; and a main frame for supporting the vertical and horizontal clamping assemblies for the other one of said pair of rail sections and for supporting said carriage frame for reciprocal longitudinal movement thereof with respect to said main frame, said main frame further being mounted for longitudinal movement with respect to said rail sections, whereby the end of a rail section can be positioned therein by longitudinally moving said main frame with respect to said rail section.